Steel a Phantom
by Is-this-a-good-name
Summary: What if steel wasn't the only ultra link that made it to Earth. What if that ultra link was damaged to the point that it was nothing but an empty shell? What happens when a hero falls and has nowhere to turn? Is Tucker really going to eat all that meat? This tragedy has a happy ending. I hate sad endings.


"Hurry up Tucker. He won't last much longer!"

"I know Sam. I'm doing the best I can!"

Tucker shouted back. He desperately worked on the small ball of metal he held in his hands. The light emanating from the sphere was flickering and slowly diming. Sweat ran down Tucker's face as he tried to force his fingers to work through the panicky jerks the adrenaline rush was giving him.

Over in the corner, on a makeshift hospital bed lye Danny Phantom. On the floor was the body of Danny Fenton – exhausted and spent. The fragile and beaten human body had given up its fight not two minutes ago, and nothing his friends could do could save it. The black hair was caked in its own blood the clear blue eyes were starting to fade.

But no one had time to grieve for the young man, because Phantom only had minutes left at the most. Sam was holding onto Phantom's limp hand as his eyes found hers and desperately begged for help. Ectoplasm was everywhere, perfectly mimicking the injuries of the human body beside him. From the other corner of the room they could hear muttered curses coming from their friend as he worked on his mystery contraption.

"Sam" he whispered. Tears spilled from Sam's eyes as she held her husband's hand tighter. "Sam". It seemed that was all he could manage to say, but all of his pain, fear, and love came through that one word.

"Shh. It'll be okay. Shh"

Danny started to close his eyes and Sam panicked.

"Danny!" she screeched.

Danny dazedly grinned at her. His pain was fading. He felt more peaceful and took a shuddering breath. Then he started to convulse.

"No!"

\- Three years ago -

"What is that thing?" asked a grossed out Danny Fenton.

"Don't know." Replied his best friend Tucker Foley. "But, I would bet anything this has to do with those giant elemental monsters that attacked a month ago.

Danny nodded his head. It had been like any other patrol. He floated over Amity Park and waved at the citizens as they passed. A nod to a little girl here, and a high five with a student there. Danny Fenton had announced his true identity five years ago when he was sixteen. Now that he was twenty-one, everything felt right in the world. His parents had accepted him, as he knew they would, (honestly, it had only been for convenience that he had ever kept it from them to begin with). The red huntress had accepted him. Most of his school friends had gone off to college while he contented himself with correspondence courses. His obsession to protect what he claimed as his would not let him leave Amity Park for so long a time. Sam and Tucker had stayed close as well.

Everything was relatively normal, for Amity Park anyway. There were days when the power went out, and there were days when giant fire, water, and earth monsters attacked. Oh, well. Each day had its own challenges, and Danny accepted that. But, today was strange. A blinking light had caught his eye while he was flying over the city on the outskirts of the town. When he saw that it was a metal cylinder with obvious complicated technology, he had called up the mayor immediately to see if he could take a break from his busy schedule to take a look.

So thirty minutes later the two were examining the ball. Tucker put on some black gloves to handle the thing. "It doesn't look ghostly to me. If I had to guess, I would say that this thing is extraterrestrial."

"An alien? Sounds about right. But if it has something to do with those monsters from before, why would it be alien? Those things were strange, but they totally screamed _tero-originalaj*_ to me."

"Yeah, you're right. But you see this opening here?" Here he turned the sphere on its side and showed a kind of core inside. "I think that this is some kind of artificial intelligence. But it hardly has any room for a battery. It can't last long without a power source. I think, though it's just a guess, that this thing has to bind with something powerful to keep it going. It bonds with an energy source and in turn it provides a sort of sudo-life.

"So, I wasn't fighting some sort of ancient devil from the pits of the Earth, I was fighting alien invaders? Honestly, I thought I was a fantasy creature, not sci-fi."

"Dude, your parents made fantasy into a science. Don't worry. You're within your genre territory. If anybody complains, you can always defer to your superhero status. What I'm more concerned about, is what this may mean. If those things were being directed here by this thing, then what was their purpose for being in Amity?"

"I don't know Tuck. Why don't you keep it for now. You can always ask Mom and Dad to look at it for a second opinion. But, I have to go soon. You know, plans and stuff." He cut off his thoughts rather evasively.

"Uh huh." Tucker smirked. "Plans with a beautiful goth?" He watched as his friend turned red. "Did you get the ring yet?" Even more red.

"Dude! You're asking her tonight aren't you?" He practically shouted.

"Tucker chill out, man". Tucker sarcastically looked left then right. "I don't see anybody around here to _hear_ me yell. What are you so worried about?"

Danny muttered incoherently and Tucker chuckled.

"Go on then Romeo. I'll take little Esmerelda here and get acquainted.

Danny looked in disbelief. "You just found this thing and you've already named it?"

"What can I say? When you hit it off it just feels right."

Danny shook his head and left his fiend to rough it back to town. Tucker would just have to make do with his limo.

*Esperanto for Earth-originating

\- One Year Later -

Danny and Sam walked downtown past the open doored stores as they window shopped. It was a lazy day and just cool enough to be comfortable. Lots of people roamed the sidewalks in the metropolitan section of Amity Park. Sam was complaining about her parents' ideas for a wedding dress.

"They couldn't find one locally, so they hired a world renowned custom designer to make me a form fitted _pink_ dress." Danny almost face palmed at the stupidity of Sam's parents.

"He didn't meet with a tragic accident, did he?" Danny asked cautiously. She may be his fiancé, but if Sam actually caused someone to 'disappear' he might be forced to take action. He was 70% sure that she hadn't done anything that drastic to the helpless dress maker.

Sam snorted. "No, nothing happened to him. But his jet's navigation system probably won't ever work the same again." Danny thought that might explain the noticeable lack of Technus over the past few days. He didn't want to know what she had used to pay him off.

"Oh, speaking of navigation systems, Tucker's been rambling about how he found some sort of navigation in that ball he and your parents have been working on for the last year."

Danny perked up. He knew that the alien ball had been a tougher nut to crack than Tucker had expected. From Danny's perspective, any progress on _alien technology_ should be considered a victory. Tucker, apparently, thought differently and was taking his 'failure' a bit personally. He refused to give up and had eventually let his parents help. They were convinced it was ghostly and had tried all of their conventional equipment. But when that failed, they had taken a broader perspective and had eventually provided useful insight.

"Let's leave him to it for now. I'm sure he will tell us all about it at dinner tonight."

"Yes, I'm sure he will. If my parents let him get a word in between judgmental comments."

\- Another Year Later -

At the age of twenty-three Danny was beginning to get frustrated. He and Sam were coming up on their first year anniversary. And despite his wide range of ghostly powers, the one thing he could not do, was tie a tie properly. He, Sam, and Tucker were all invited to the Mayoral ball (well, Tucker was hosting the ball so he wasn't technically invited).

Sam walked into their bathroom and looked at her young husband. She smirked as she made her way over and pulled his hands away. Her arms snaked around his neck as she tied a perfect bow knot. She then used her conveniently placed arms to pull his head down to hers. Her lips caught his and Danny relished in the feel of his beautiful bride. When they pulled away it was Danny who was left gasping, though he was the one that didn't technically need to breath.

"Not bad" she teased lightly.

"Not bad yourself" he answered with a bit of a growl in his voice. She smirked full on at the tone. But before the two could get _distracted_ the bathroom door was pushed open. Jazmine Fenton stood in the doorway with an annoyed look on her face.

"Alright you two. We have to get to the party in less than thirty minutes. And I have to make sure that Dad is dressed in decent clothes. Why did Tucker have to invite them to a _black tie_ event?" Jazz ran her fingers through her shoulder length hair. It hadn't changed much over the years. But, her style had. She wore brighter colors and more dress suits to work, and at home she wore crew neck peasant gowns and typical blue jeans. To be honest Danny thought she had a sort of seventies vibe going.

"Relax Jazz. Mom and Dad can't do anything worse than what they did four years ago to the visiting senator that came by. If the town hasn't thrown them out by now, they never will." Sam laughed at that causing Jazz to scowl.

"I'm serious. This is a big night for all of us. If our sponsors are impressed, we could get a lot of good publicity for Ghosts of Generosity." It was Jazmine's brain child of a charity, and despite the stupid name, all of team phantom had helped out.

Sam ran her fingers though her spikey pixie cut hair. Her diamond earrings swung down and looked regal with her black dress accented in silver. It had a swoop neck and clung to her hips. It trailed to her slender ankles but slit from the calf down. Her black heels set the whole ensemble off. She sighed.

"Alright Jazz. We'll see you at the party." With a casual swing of her hips she pivoted towards the door and caught Danny's hand in one graceful movement. She led him towards the car.

The party was in full swing. There was a band playing peppy music and the catered food was wonderful. Everybody was enjoying the evening. And certainly nobody could complain of needlessly long speeches, as Tucker, in his usual fashion, had left the guests with a quick "Welcome to my party. Ain't no party like a Tucker party. The meat's over there." For the visiting officials, it had seemed… odd. But hey, the meat was very good.

Tucker made his way over to his best friend.

"Great speech man." The two fist bumped while Sam rolled her eyes.

"I thought you would like it. All these people will learn to appreciate my meat genius."

With a sigh Sam said, "At least your campaign no longer consists of _the rise of the machine to conquer man."_

Tucker put on a fake frown. "It's still a valid idea". Danny had to laugh.

"Speaking of machines conquering man, Danny, I've made some progress with Esmerelda." Danny raised his thick brows at this. "It took me a while to figure it out, but she's not just an artificial intelligence. She has an almost organic matrix. It's like she's a parasite that's made to take over, not just inanimate objects, but has the possibility to dominate living lifeforms."

Danny suppressed a small shudder. That sounded far too much like Overgrowth for his liking.

"So, did you figure out what it was doing here then? Or what it was directing those monsters to do?"

"That's just the thing. I don't think that it was directing the monsters. From everything that I can tell, these spheres can only bond once. Once they attach to their host, they're married to it for life. That's why they seek out the strongest source of power they can find."

Sam frowned. "If the sphere was looking for a power source, and it led them to Amity Park, then there's only one thing that it could have been after. We have the largest source of ecto-plasm readily available in the world."

Danny thought for a moment before questioning the logic, "Would that work? I mean, alien tech, I can see it being adaptable enough to bond with foreign creatures, but ecto-plasm is unique. There's nothing like it in the universe. And strange as it may seem, an alien planet is still a part of _this_ world. The ghost zone is an entirely different dimension."

Tucker nodded his head. But whatever he was about to say was interrupted when the trio had to dodge Danny's parents doing the pogo dance. Danny crossed his fingers hoping that it would come across as retro. From across the room it looked like Jazz was hoping nobody knew that they were related.

-Six Months Later -

 _Blech!_

"Sam? You okay?"

"Just peachy."

"…. You sure?"

"Go away Danny."

" 'Cuz I could come in there if you…"

"Danny, shut up. Go find a ghost cat to save."

*sigh* Somethings even a hero can't fix. Danny was worried about his pregnant wife, but didn't want to stress her out any more than he needed to. Tucker had come over and was doing absolutely nothing to help the situation. Sam had been horrified that her body had a craving for meat, which Tucker had abused to no end. It was a relief when Jazmine had taken the day off to help. Now the boys were talking together in the living room of the young Mr. and Mrs. Fenton.

"Danny," said Jazz coming up to the bathroom with a cool rag and a can of lemon lime soda, "You and Tucker just need to give her some time. Let me take care of this. As tough as she likes to act, the woman inside of her doesn't want you to see her looking less than her best."

Danny would have argued that nothing could ever make Sam anything less than beautiful, but Tucker intervened. "Come on man. You'll have plenty of time to take care of her later. She'll need all kinds of reassurance that she doesn't look fat in a few months. That's where you'll come in. For now, let's go down to the lab."

They made their way to Danny's basement. Half of it looked like an obstacle course, half of it looked like an experimental weapons lab. All of it looked like a greenhouse had exploded and left plants everywhere of all sorts of colors, smells, and textures. It would have been a very dizzying sight, but it was obvious that the designer had taken great care in placement, so everything just sort of worked.

Tucker immediately sat down at a lab bench and plopped his bag down on the table. Out of it he pulled Esmerelda. She was looking much different from the way she had when they had first found her. There were all kinds of compartments within compartments that had been opened. Stray wires ran along the whole thing. And exposed panels could be seen.

Danny let out a low whistle. "Dang, Tuck! Did the two of you get in a fight?"

Tucker gave his friend a light punch on the arm. "Funny".

"Seriously, what happened?"

Tucker didn't say anything for a moment a he gazed at the contraption on the table. He had an oddly serious look in his eyes. Finally, he looked up at Danny.

"I couldn't figure it out for a long time. It's been bothering me. Like an obvious hole in a puzzle." Danny waited for him to finish his thoughts without interrupting.

"It was you that gave me the missing clue. Remember back at the party all those months ago?" Danny gave an uncertain nod. "Well, I was wondering if an alien really could use ecto-plasm if it had not been specifically designed to do so. And, you were right. It can't."

Danny furrowed his brows at this. "Tucker, I don't understand. If this thing, which by the way we haven't seen any more of in the last two and a half years, wasn't drawn to the ecto-plasm, then what was it drawn to? It couldn't have been just a fluke could it?"

Tucker took his beret off to scratch at his scalp. He had shaved his head, and the look suited his muscular build. "I don't think it was a fluke. I, well… I don't know for sure. But…" he trailed off.

By this point Danny was getting frustrated. His attention was already divided by his sick wife and Tucker had drug him all the way down here just to give him more riddles.

"What _do_ you think then?"

Tucker seemed reluctant to answer, but he finally spoke his thoughts aloud. "I don't think that it's ecto-energy it was looking for, but a byproduct of ecto-energy."

His words hung in the air for a moment.

"A byproduct? You're serious?" A nod.

"Are you trying to tell me that it was after, what, _my_ eto-plasm?"

"Technically, what you produce isn't ecto-plasm. Inside a ghost's system is ecto-plasm that runs all the functions that the blood does for the human body. In your case you have both. As a human, the ecto-plasm is mostly dormant, unless you use a ghost power. In the same way, your blood lies dormant, and your heart doesn't beat nor does it use or loose oxygen in the blood as a ghost.

"In the same way that you expel waste as a human, your ghost body has waste in the form of ecto-blasts, your ghostly aura, even your ecto-signature. You are constantly putting out this energy. Even if it's only trace amounts as a human.

"The strange thing is, this byproduct does not read the same as ecto-plasm. So, I did some research. It turns out that on the paranormal expert's community page, there are some projects being conducted near Copper Canyon on the properties of this byproduct. (Typical scientist, they won't put any credence towards it being anything more than natural in origin and don't believe in ghosts). Somehow they've gotten a sample of it and they are calling it TURBO energy. Would you believe that they think that it's extra-terrestrial in nature?"

Danny watched his friend. "So, what does all of this mean? Yeah, I've always known that I give off trace essence of ghost as a human. And I know that as a ghost, I have just a bit more substance to my form. I have more trouble teleporting because my body is fighting to stay together the way that a human body would. But, how does that explain any more than we already knew?"

"It explains it because your ecto-energy byproduct, or Turbo energy, is different from any other ghost in any world. Yours is more _alive._ And even if I don't have any proof right now, I think that life is what this thing craves. We have seen that it can bind to nonliving things like rock, water, and fire, but from what I've found, it truly wants life. Everything about it is some weak imitation of natural life.

Danny had to sit down to process this.

"So, my dead vibes are so alive it drew this thing, along with its monster buddies, into my town." He swallowed hard.

"Woah! You okay man?" Tucker looked a bit nervous. Was Danny looking that bad? He didn't have the mental capacity to worry about it.

"Look. It's not so bad. I didn't call you down here to blame you for anything. Besides, you took care of all of those things long before they even reached Amity Park."

Danny gave his friend a weak smile.

Tucker looked his friend over, and when he was pretty sure he wouldn't puke on his new shoes, he continued.

"All of this is fine theory to talk about. And with any luck at all we won't have to put any of this to the test. What's the chances of another stray alien parasite attacking our town, right? Don't answer that. But what all of this tells me is something else.

"Danny, no matter what form you are in, you are always you. We can't ignore that. You can never go back to being entirely human. Up until now, we've always assumed that you would remain a halfa until you became full ghost. But now…

"Now I wonder if that's true"

Danny looked up at him startled. "What do you mean?" He demanded.

Tucker shook his head sadly. "I mean that you are so tightly bound to both forms, I don't know if you could 'survive' the loss of either half."

Danny's head was reeling. This was all too much. There was a lot of information coming at him from all sides. It would be different if there was some immediate action to take relating to all of this. But it was all just theory. Speculating for speculation's sake.

Danny spoke after a long while in deep thought. "Let's break this down just a little bit. We know that a ghost is different from a soul. Some ghosts have souls and are as much a person as you and I, while others are nothing more than glorified automatons. Those are what Mom and Dad use for experimentation. So, whatever happens to my body, it's still not the 'end' of me."

Tucker nodded his understanding. "Yes, in that sense you're right. But ghosts can be 'ended'. Their version of dying. And you have a vulnerability that others don't. Your humanity has been both your strength and your weakness. You have more sheer determination that comes from facing mortality every day. But that same mortality is a definite liability. I worry sometimes about what would happen if…"

Tucker couldn't finish his thoughts and turned back to the gutted sphere. His eyes hardened.

"Danny, I want to try something real quick." Danny turned towards his friend with suspicion.

"What?"

"I just want you to let as much of your ghostly aura out in your human form as you feel comfortable doing."

Danny gave him a strange look, but complied.

Tucker watched his PDA as he did this then made a quick adjustment to the compact computer. Then he reached over and hooked up one of the wires the PDA and typed a few things with his stylus.

"Alright, Danny. Do that one more time". Danny gave it a bit more force this time and his eye glowed green as his dark hair took on a slightly haloed effect.

This time there was a small hum from the machine. A small flicker of light ran from one of the exposed displays through a wire and into another display. There was a beep then it cut off. Danny cut off his aura.

Tucker's eyes were as wide as saucers. He was typing furiously. Danny, however was glaring at the sphere with more distrust than ever.

"Tucker, didn't you say this thing was designed to imitate life? This thing isn't going to come back from the dead is it?"

Although he was distracted with his findings Tucker shook his head. "No. Even though it's _not_ alive, and never was, this thing is fried. It's missing something vital from its matrix. I don't know if that's from the fight all that time ago, or just a flaw in its design, but this is certainly missing the ability to come back to life.

"But it's strange that it's so compatible with you. It's almost like it was designed for your energy." That comment did not comfort Danny in the slightest which he expressed both vocally and wild gesticulations.

When he had calmed a bit Tucker continued, "I think that where ever this thing is from, there is some other source of Turbo energy. And your Turbo energy mimics it to such an impressive degree, it can't tell the difference."

Here Danny dropped his head onto the table and scrunched his eyes shut. Without opening them he drilled Tucker. "I'm such a freak that my half dying enabled me to imitate an alien energy source so valuable, that alien parasites invaded the earth to feast on my ghost poop?"

Tucker gave his friend a startled look. "Well when you put it that way" he muttered.

Before Danny could come back with his own witty sarcasm there was a shout from upstairs. Instantly all of Danny's own worries were forgotten as he looked up the stairs where his sister was standing framed in the door way.

"Danny, Sam is feeling better now. She says you are permitted out of the basement if you both promise to behave."

Tucker grinned at his friend. His mood switched like a light bulb into playfulness as he swept the mechanical mess back into the bag.

With a dramatic flourish he swept his hand towards the staircase. "Your princess awaits."

Tucker was clutching his arm where a new bruise was forming as they made their way up the stairs.

\- Three Months Later -

Down in the Fenton basement Jack, Maddie, Tucker, and an obviously very pregnant Sam gathered around the main computer where the alien sphere was plugged in and undergoing yet another systems check.

"It looks promising," said Maddie to the huddled group. "I think that it could work."

Jack looked at the group with a wide grin. "Fudge for everyone"

Sam smacked everyone else's hands away as she grabbed and handful, then passed the plate. If it had been chocolate, she would have gaged. Since it was peanut butter, she staked her claim first. Then she turned her attention back to the screen in front of her.

"Mrs. Fenton. Sorry. Mrs. Fenton, senior." Here Tucker received a glare and a smack respectively from the two Mrs. Fentons. "Ouch! I said sorry. Mrs. Fenton, I think that this could work, but we have no way of trying in or running any sort of beta test. Once these things bond, it's permanent. And it would be a waste to run a test proving that it worked, and then not have it if we really need it."

Maddie sighed and lost some of her enthusiasm. "You're right, Tucker. But there's nothing that we can do about that. We've done as much homework as we can with our limited knowledge. Besides, we won't use it unless it's absolutely necessary. In such a case, even if it fails we wouldn't have anything to lose by trying it."

Sam lost some of the color in her face at the dire words. Then her face hardened in determination.

"None of that matters" she declared. "We won't ever have to use it. It's only for a precaution anyway."

Jack's indomitable spirit rose from the momentary gloom in the room. "Of course nothing's going to happen. It's our Danny-boy that we're talking about. I don't care if our sensors are showing a hundred more of these space bug or a thousand. What could take our boy out, especially with us around?"

He failed to realize that his words were having a less than positive effect. Maddie decided to take the conversation up, here. "What was it Jazmine was doing to distract Danny tonight?" she asked in a painfully obvious change of subject.

Tucker grinned. Shopping for Sam's secret anniversary gift. Only three more months to go. You should be proud of your little hubby. He's so ahead of schedule." Sam growled a bit at her friend who only offered her a grin in return. "Watch it Sammy. Or I might have to take a look at your tax returns." Sam's foot twitched as though she longed for something hard but squishy to slam it into. Something like Tucker's shin would do nicely.

Jack was oblivious to all of this. He was watching the screen. "Tucker, we haven't told Danny any of this until now. I don't know if we should, but I think we will leave it up to you and Sam. You've known all of his secretes, and were there for him even when we couldn't be. But, I do know why we haven't mentioned it so far.

"When and if the time comes that we should need to use this, do you think you will be able to perform this task?" He fixed his practically adopted son in his gaze.

Tucker dipped his head. He hated to think about it. He had done all of this as a precaution. All of it was just for fun – to see if he could do it. But, now, with clear evidence of a wave of invaders, what was once theory might be put to the test. All of them were preparing mentally, physically, and in some ways spiritually. Everybody was getting ready, except for Danny, whom they had purposefully left in the dark. He pushed himself hard enough as it was. Even if he had known, there was very little more he could do than what he already did on a daily basis. Why worry him more than they needed to? They had a countdown and would let him know closer to the big day. But, telling him about this secret project, that had been a source of debate. Now it seemed that the Fentons were leaving that particular responsibility in the hands of his wife and best friend.

Tucker raised his head and made eye contact with everyone in the room before he answered

"I will."

\- Present Day Morning -

Danny stood beside his family in the early morning. The streets were eerily silent. Not even a dog was barking. His mother was checking a gadget on her gun. His father was cleaning one of his exto-weapons as he greased it and wiped it down in a methodic way. His best friend was taking a small break from his computer to share the moment with the family, though when the action came, he would be in front of his computer where he could do the most good and keep in contact with his citizens to update and assure them.

His sister was standing wrapped in the arms of her new fiancé, a young man she had met in graduate school. Danny had had to give the man a once over before giving his approval. To the poor man's surprise, this dress down had been by far more brutal than the one from the girl's horribly intimidating father.

Same stood next to him her arms cradling their new born baby girl. Her name was Elizabeth and she looked just like her mother. Danny couldn't be happier at that turn of events. There had been something of a spectacle made of the girl in the ghost zone. When the time came, Elizabeth would be watched over by her aunt and soon to be uncle in the basement. If all went well they planned to celebrate with pizza. If everything went absolutely south, there was an emergency escape hatch though the ghost zone and a fully stocked specter speeder.

The world had been told of the invasion two weeks ago. Danny himself had only been informed the day before the official announcement. He was still under the belief that his family had made the discovery that day. As they predicted, his freak out was of epic proportions. He had almost stopped eating and had run himself ragged trying to prepare, to the point that he was doing his body more harm than good. Too many nights Sam had to drag him to bed as he tried again to perfect some skill he thought could be the one thing to save a life. In the end, the family had not spoken to him of their secret project.

Now came the hardest part. The waiting. There were few agencies in all the world that was equipped to deal with such an invasion, but there were some out there. It was comforting to know that they weren't the only ones in this fight. The researches in Copper Canyon had turned out to be a bit more than only researchers, surprise, surprise. They had sent agents, advisors, and more weapons that were placed under the direct supervision of Amity Park's mayor. They had been dispersed as Tucker had seen fit.

As the time grew closer the family drew together, but not a word of goodbye was spoken. Maddie took a moment to hug all of her children, including those most recently added, and her granddaughter. Jack slapped backs and kissed Elizabeth and Jazmine. Then they returned to their battle positions. The time had come.

\- Five Hours Latter -

Danny's vision was blurring. He could only hear his wife as she grabbed his hand, desperately trying to hold her husband's ghost to the land of the living. It had been a fierce battle. Despite all of their efforts, lives had been lost that day, including the rest of Danny's. Though many more had been saved. There had been more spheres. And they had latched onto anything that could give them an edge. They mindlessly marched into the town. Not all of them had headed towards Amity Park, about half of the forces had made their way towards Copper Canyon. About one hundred had come into their territory. Some of them had gotten lucky and bonded with impressive hosts such as hot springs, cars, or fierce wild creatures. Others had chosen less wisely and got stuck with pigeons or hotdog stands.

It had been a fierce battle and everyone had risen to the challenge in a united front against this invader. And Phantom: he had shown up with more power and righteous fury than anyone had ever seen. More than when he had faced down the ghost king, more than when he had faced dark Dan, even more than when he had helped save the world from the disasteroid. The only explanation was that he was trying to preserve a world that his daughter could live freely in. A daughter it seemed he would never get to see again.

"Sam"

"Shh. It'll be okay. Shh"

Danny started to close his eyes and Sam panicked.

"Danny!" she screeched.

Danny dazedly grinned at her. His pain was fading. He felt more peaceful and took a shuddering breath. Then he started to convulse.

"No! Tucker we need it now!" her voice broke from the sheer decibels she was letting out. Tucker let out a shout and Sam's heart stuttered for a moment fearing that the dratted thing had broken when they needed it most. But she soon realized that it was a shout of victory.

He came over to the couple carefully stepping over his friend's body. He just couldn't think about that right now. He crouched down in front of his friend and squeezed his other hand to get his attention when the convulsing finally stopped.

Danny was weak and sweaty but made the effort to look at his friend one last time. "You were right." He choked out. "I guess I never could be just a ghost". His voice gave out.

"Yeah, man. You were never destined to be 'just anything'. Not even 'just Danny'. You've always been so much more to all of us. You have been the best friend, husband, father, and br-br-brother anyone has ever had." Tucker struggled through his own tears. But he saw Danny smile at these words, though he didn't know if he was being fully understood, especially when his eyes started to close again.

He gave the hand he was holding another squeeze. Danny looked up at his friend, his brother, and his lips formed the word "tired" but not sound came out.

"I know your tired man. You can rest soon. But I need you to do me one more favor. Can you do that for me?"

Danny said nothing but the look in his eye showed that he was listening.

Tucker took a breath and the slowly pulled out the old sphere that they had found together three years ago on that same day. Danny would have shuddered if he had had the strength to do so. He had given up his life to destroy these things and now Tucker had pulled one out while Danny was too weak to save them from it.

Sam saw the look in her husband's eye and stroked his head to reassure him. He seemed to calm under the touch.

Tucker spoke again. "Danny, you need to show me your ghostly aura like you did a few months ago. Do you remember that? I know your tired, but you need to at least try." Danny shook his head and Sam started sobbing. Danny looked to her and did his best to squeeze the hand that she still held. He didn't know if he managed it or not.

Tucker shook his shoulder. "Come on. Danny, I know that you can do this." Danny didn't move. Then slowly, so slowly, his aura grew just a little bit brighter. His dull hair shown more clearly. His eyes flashed for just a moment before he slumped back against the bed.

But it had been enough. The sphere burst to life. It hummed and light flashed across the surface in intricate patterns. The it began to shift and a compartment slid open. The core of the machine. Danny watched and would have been worried if the strange peace of mind and spirit had not had a hold of him. He just couldn't find it in him to worry about anything. In the back of his mind he thought he remembered an old lesson Clockwork had tried to teach him. Something about life only making sense at its conclusion. His confused mind decided it was just best to wait.

Then, in the midst of all the sorrow and pain, a strange sensation came over Danny. He was used to being a ghost, but he had always been part human. Now he was full ghost and he noticed despite the fog of his mind some small differences. Like his body no longer fought as hard to stay in its shape. He felt more gaseous and less 'there' than he ever had. He was far more separated. And now he felt a tug. There was a pull on his spectral body. And he felt his body answer the call.

Danny was even now, not complete as a spirit entity. He was a separate being from other ghosts, and his spirit could not live without a body any more that his dead body had continued to live without its spirit. But he couldn't get that back. Now, though, he felt the call.

His attention was pulled towards the machine that Tucker held out. It had a different feel and it no longer disgusted him. The lights that shown around it were mesmerizing. The small hum coming from it sounded almost alive. A life that Danny needed. He saw it coming towards him. Or, was he coming towards it? Danny didn't know nor could he have made any sort of guess. All he knew was that what it offered him he needed. And he was going to take it up on it.

Sam and Tucker watched as their best friend's spirit was absorbed into the core. They had seen many of these parasites bond with things during their fight. These things had lost themselves to the abomination that attached itself to them. But what had just happened was different. This was not a bond. Not in the same way. Rather, a spirit had taken refuge into this empty, almost alive thing.

And so, the spirit of Phantom found its new home.

-Sixteen years later-

Elizabeth Fenton walked with her class through the NTec/Fenton base tour in the Amity Park division. The tour was being led by a handsome man somewhere in his thirties. Elizabeth was pretty sure his name was Max something or other. Her mother, a world renowned botanist, was chaperoning this trip.

"And here we have the hall of heroes…" came the voice. He gestured to one of the more recognizable figures. There was a plaque proclaiming the name for anyone too obtuse to already know the famous Max Steel.

Elizabeth couldn't contain her sigh. Apparently, it was audible enough to be heard by their guide.

"Yeah, he's not all that he's cracked up to be. In fact, I have it on good authority, that under that mask, he's a regular guy." He smiled secretively like he had just laid down some wisdom that only the worthy were capable of understanding. Liz had met people like this before and she knew how to read between the lines. This guy had all but announced to those with ears to hear, that he was in fact the famous Max Steel.

'Gee. Max Mcgraff is Max Steel. Where have I heard this before?' She caught sight of her mother who gave her daughter a knowing look. Oh, yes, they had heard this story before. She felt a slight buzz coming from her phone. She looked down to see a text.

"Ha! This guy is worse than I was." Liz rolled her eyes at the message. She kept pace with her class mates as the tour continued. He mother slipped up next to her had discretely handed her a small palm sized ball.

"Here, take this. Your father says he wants to talk to you directly and thinks you spend enough time on your phone."

Elizabeth wanted to groan, but obediently took the proffered ball from her mom. She instantly felt a tug in her core as it responded to the similar spirit in contact with her. The two halfas were always linked together, but it was always more strongly felt when in physical contact. She smiled as a flood of consciousness invaded her mind. She snorted a few times at the jokes her father made as they continued along the tour. And huffed indignantly at the audacity he had in trying to lecture her about staying away from that Max Steel kid. Please he was practically twice her age.

As they went along, her mother slipped her hand into her daughter's that was holding the compacted alien ball that was Danny Phantom and the three enjoyed one another's company as their minds mingled.

 **AN:**

Did it make any sense? I don't know. I was just curious to see what would happen. In this story, Danny is not the king of ghosts, though he could have claimed the throne. I guess that means Elizabeth could inherit it if she wanted to.

Danny did not officially bond with either his daughter or his wife, but has a strong connection with all of his family. Unlike with Max and Steel, Danny does not depend on a host for his energy, but he can feel the energies of those around him, and can get a bit of a spike when around his wife and daughter especially. He's able to generate enough ecto-energy, or Turbo energy in this case, to power his own body. He's like the energizer bunny. He can just keep going.

Let me know what you think about this weird story. I didn't know what I was getting into when I started this. It took me twelve hours to write this with liberal breaks inbetween.


End file.
